Not having looked up this cinema on CT for some time I was saddened when in Liverpool yesterday to see that the Odeon was no more,I asked a chap working in a shop opposite as to when it was demolished, and he said it was a couple of months ago,anything to get rid of me I suppose. I decided to take a picture anyway, I wonder what happened to the plaque honouring the late Liverpool film star John Gregson, which I remember being unveiled although I never saw it myself.

Yes, the two buildings are much older than the cinema.
You can see where the one facing London Road was cut short to allow for the entrance to the cinema.
Ma Egerton’s was originally on the site where the Forum was built in Lime Street, so it would have moved after June 1929.
(I’ve got a copy of a press cutting from June 1929).
That story you heard must have been from somebody who got their facts wrong.

Haha Philip, no worries, and apologies! and totally agree, there is still plenty left so worth a visit – and for people to take a good look at some of the details.
And I had to laugh at your mention of the two buildings remaining. I think I read somewhere (and I hope someone can confirm this story!) that when building the paramount, Ma Egerton’s (the pub around the back by Lime Street station) was under consideration for demolition, and the paramount was to take up the whole space. But the landlord’s refused to sell up, meaning the planners had to rethink and build around the pub! And now Ma Egerton’s is going to outlive the Odeon it seems that pub will never die!
The same demolition company pulled down the building further up London Road, which was the old Collier’s Tailors clothing store, and it took them a while to demolish that as well.

Woody – great photo link, I was pleased to see the old faÃ§ade revealed once again when I visited! Shame its stayed hidden for so long!

Hi, Laura.
It was Ian – being rather premature – who says: “Demolition of the Odeon began in November 2010, and was completed in March 2011."
If I didn’t know the truth, a statement like that would have prevented me from visiting the site to take photos, thinking that there’s nothing left.
The demolition will continue, but will take a while.
Apart from the fact it’s a huge building, there are also buildings at two corners which will remain.
Philip.

I know, have been past it a few times and they made a big mess and now don’t seem to be making any more progress. I didn’t mention that it had been completed – in fact I was wondering why they seem to be keeping the back part of the building up. As I know nothing about demolition I guess I will never know! Perhaps it is just easier to start on that side of the building where they do not have to shut off any roads.
I really hope though that they haven’t made a start and now leave it in the state for several months, they should put it out of its misery if they intend to as soon as they can.

It’s incorrect to say that demolition has been completed.
At the time of writing (March 20), only the centre of the building is part-demolished.
There will be plenty of photo opportunities for quite a while yet.

The demolition is well under way, incredibly sad, walked past it tonight with a gaping hole in the side. Just terrible. There is also a magazine available, another of the liverpool life in association with the echo magazines on lost cinemas of liverpool and the cover picture is of the grand Paramount/Odeon itself. Such a shame that it’s coincided with the demolition of this great picture house.

The decorative features weren’t ‘destroyed’ in 1968 – they had reached the end of their design life (of about thirty years) and were replaced with something that looked modern and up to date for the 60’s (something that couldn’t be said for the faded and, in 1968, desperately unfashionable art deco interior). Note that the new Liverpool Twins were purpose designed for widescreen presentation (unlike the original), had state of the art projection and sound equipment,opened with a bigger ceremony than in 1934, were featured in Interior Design magazine and won a prestigeous award in the Motion Picture Herald. Now, whether you prefer Art Deco (i.e. decorative modernism) or merely modernism (in the 60’s idiom) is a matter of taste, not fact. The ‘fact’ is, the 1960’s modernisation was just as much ‘designed’ and just as much about ‘quality’ as what it replaced. Indeed, two generations of cinema goers remember this as ‘cinema’ and they rather liked it…what a shame the dominant dialogue in cinema history denies them their nostalgia!!

When the Odeon in London Road Liverpool was a Paramount theatre it was equipped with Simplex projectors.When it became Odeon, Kalee 21s were in use. When it became a 70mm house, Philips DP70s were employed. Today the ten screen cinema uses Cinemeccanica equipment.